How Captain Marvel Sets Itself Apart From Other MCU Origin Stories

Let it be known that Captain Marvel isn’t your typical MCU origin movie.

For one, it’s set to unfurl in the 1990s, back when Nick Fury had two functioning eyes and the Avengers Initiative was but a distant dream. Not only that, but according to Black Panther producer Nate Moore, the 2019 standalone pic will subvert our expectations in new and surprising ways.

So whereas the likes of Captain America, Iron Man and even Thor all adhered to the tried-and-tested formula – man has problem; man is imbued with superhuman abilities; man overcomes close adversary – Captain Marvel will buck the trend with a story structure that is markedly different from the MCU movies of old.

I think there is a structure to origin films that audiences sometimes can get ahead of very quickly. So, if we do origin films, internally, we talk about how we can subvert that structure. For instance, Captain Marvel is an origin movie in that you haven’t seen her before, but we think we’ve stumbled upon a structure there that isn’t the traditional structure of what origin movies typically are, which is you meet the character, they have a problem, they get powers at the end of the first act, and the end of the second act they learn about the powers, the third act they probably fight a villain who has a function of the same powers.

Moore also outlined the ways in which Marvel Studios and its pool of creators tackle any given story, with the overriding goal being to create a movie experience that feels new to the audience – even after 10 years and 19 installments of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

That’s a lot of times what a typical origin movie is structured like, but as we introduce new characters moving forward, we want to find ways to subvert that structure, so at least the experience of the film feels new to audiences. We’re very conscious of making sure that audiences don’t get things that feel like they’ve seen them before.

Finally, the MCU veteran touched base on Captain Marvel‘s opening, and how it introduces Carol Danvers to the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a bold sense of confidence.

I think the way the film opens is much different than an origin movie, and because she is a heroine that you haven’t seen before, we’re able to tell this story structurally in a way that will feel unexpected and hopefully will keep audiences off balance. Still balanced enough that they can enjoy the film, but even just making it a period film is sort of interesting in that it’s not just a function of the world as we know it in the MCU today.

Captain Marvel makes a beeline for theaters on March 8th, and when it does, it’ll seemingly contain deep, meaningful ties to both Ant-Man and the Wasp and the so-far untitled Avengers 4. How, you ask? Two words: Quantum Realm.